Device for attaching labels on bottles, cans and the like



Dec. 29, 1936. v wRANGE 2,065,957

CANS AND THE LIKE DEVICE FOR ATTACHING LABELS ON BOTTLES Fild Dec.

Patented Dec. 29 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DEVICE FOR ATTACHING LABELS 'ON BOTTLES, CANS AND THE LIKE Georg Viktor Wrange, Alston, Sweden 8 Claims.

The present invention relates to a device for attaching labels on bottles, cans or the like carried forward by a conveyor. The object of the invention is to develop such a device of a simple and cheap construction working without danger of damaging the bottles and by means of which it will also be possible to attach the label at such places, for example the bottle neck, whereowing to difficulties of reaching those places by means of a machineit was necessary to attach the labels by hand.

"The device according to the invention is in the first place characterized thereby that it consists of one or several rotatable, elastic members, arranged laterally to the conveyor and adapted while deforming to be pressed against a bottle during a part of the rotation, when said bottle is passing the member, one or several conduits or channels opening on the surface of the respective elastic member being arranged to be connected or disconnected with a source of 'vacuum in such a way that, when their openings pass a pile of labels or the like, they are brought into connection with the source of vacuum, thereby grasping and carrying along a label, but after continued rotation of the elastic member into engagement with the bottle they are brought into connection with the air thereby releasing the label and allowing it to be pressed against the bottle by the deformation of the elastic member and attached to the bottle. The device may either consist of a single elastic member as described-which is then rotatable around its own longitudinal axis- -or of a number ofelastic members distributed around a common axisof rotation, which members arev stationary in.relati0n,t0.theiruown longitudinal axis; .1 .=:;The 1 elastic member or members suitably: consist of, a -hollow body of for instancerubber which is kept expanded by means Of co'mpressedair. uFign-lflisa diagrammaticalplan-view ofan embodiment of-the"- device according to the inventi'on cooperatin'g with"a conveyor for the m H l 46 Fig. 2 "'shows,on 'a'great'er scale, a verticalsecl-j tion 'throu'ghth edevice, andFig. 3, partly in sectionla plan view 'offth'e' idevice. "'r'igj i is diagrammatical plan View; of a modi-;

sif i ifi fn j lthe viig J1; ":In FigLl, I' is a conveyor web by meajns of 'b itls e h i t' n th s c ions bottles are carried away by means of a conveyor web 6.

The device of attaching labels illustrated in detail in Figs. 2 and 3 consists of a rotating shell or hollow cylinder 1 of elastic material, such as rubber or the like that is expanded by means of internally admitted compressed air. The shell I is attached to the vertical driving shaft 8 and is attached at the top between the nuts 9 and I0 and. at the bottom between the washer I l and the plate I2, which participate in the rotation of the axis 8. The shell isso positioned in relation to the feed table 3 that the circumference of the shell is pressed against the bottle and deformed at the place of contact. l3, l3 are vacuum conduits, suitably of rubber or similar resilient material. On the drawing, two conduits l3, l3 are disclosed, but there may, of course, be any suitable number of them. The conduits l3, 13' are at the top divided into a number of branch conduits l4, l4 curved towards the surface of the shell and opening at different points on the same. In the illustrated embodiment each conduit I3, H3 is divided in four branch conduits, but there may be any other suitable number of them.

The ends of the branch conduits l4, [4' are suitably connected to the shell I by means of fusing. The lower ends of the conduits l3, I3 pass corresponding holes in the washer H and the shell I, and are inserted into and secured in a suitable way in holes IS in the plate l2.

The shell I with the plate I2 is mounted upon a stationary plate IS in which two concentric, arc-shaped grooves l8 and I9, separated by a relatively short interspace I1, are made. The longer groove 18 is in constant communication with ayacuumsource by means of a 'condu'it 23, while the shorter groove 'I9"coii'sl')antlycr'i'rn' munic'ats with "the cuter-air:

The shell is maintained eXpar ae-syma sftf compressed air that for instance may be conveyed from 'a source of compressed air'bya chain nel 20 bored in the' shaft 8'-"and'- a valve new instance a" rubber valve of -"the 'kindgenera'lly used in bicycles attached atthe opening '21 =of saidchannel in the-surfaceofthe shaftywhich valve automatically admits air -to the shell when the difference in pressure owing to leakag'ehas reached a certain value. a The device'works-in the following-manner.

When/the shell is rotating in the direction-indicated by the. arrowrandsreachesthe position indicated in Fig.3, theopeningofcthe vacuum conduit l3.should be above one. endof the groove l8. Vacuum is now formed in the conduit I3 and the branch conduits I4 so that the foremost label in the pile will be sucked towards the shell I, as indicated in Fig. 3. At the continued rotation of the shell, the label is brought along and held by the vacuum, because the conduit I3 communicates with the groove I8. When passing the space I 7, the communication with the groove 18 and the vacuum source is interrupted. Yet, a sufficient partial vacuum is maintained in the conduits I3 and M as to hold the label.

, During the continued rotation of the shell, the

label is brought between the bottle and the shell and is thus pressed against the bottle while the shell is being deformed. Owing to the deformation, the label is pressed uniformly against the bottle. When the label has arrived to the right position in relation to the bottle, the conduit I3 should be above one end of the groove I9 that communicates with the outer air so that the vacuum in the conduits I3, I4 will be interrupted and the label released.

The labels in the pile 4 may be previously gummed so as to be directly fastened to the wet bottles without further means. A pasting device, for instance a rotating pasting brush, may instead be arranged laterally to the shell in such a way that the label, held by the shell, will be coated with paste, when it is passed in front of it. o By means of the device according to the invention', thelabels may be applied to such places where labels hitherto could not be attached by machinery, for instance at the bottle neck, as indicated at 24 in Fig. 2. For this purpose, the shell may be extended upwards in relation to the bottle or be provided with a more expanded upper part whichzisdeformed when engaging the bottle neck. The upper part of the shell may then cooperate with a separate pile of labels and separate vacuum conduits or conduits branched off from other vacuum conduits may then open on said level in thesurface of the shell.

In the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 4 a number of similar elastic members 25 are distributed around a common shaft of rotation 26, whereas the members 25 are stationary in relation to their own longitudinal axis. They are mounted upon a rotating plate or table 21 in which openings corresponding to the openings I5 in Fig. 2 for the vacuum conduits of each elastic member are provided. Below the plate 21 a stationary plate, corresponding to the plate I6 in Fig. 2 will be arranged, in which grooves communicating respectively with a vacuum source and the outer air are provided. l v i -The invention is not limited to the above described embodiments, but diiferent'details may be modified in different'ways without departing from the ideav of the invention. Thus, the elastic member or membersmay consist of a cover of somesuitable elastic or nonelastic' material, such as rubber, fabric or the like that is expanded otherwise than by means of compressed air. 'I'he material may, for instance, be expanded by members that are arranged'inside the cover and adapted to yield-resiliently, such 'aselastic ribs or the like, when 'the'cover is being deformed. a 1 The cross-section of thef'ex'panded elastic member need not necessarily be circular as shown but may beof'many different shapes, for instance oval or another rounded shape or unround shape, for instance lanceolat'e, triangular, quadrangular, or pol'yangul'ar shape with a plane or curved lateral surfaces. 7

The bottles or the like that are to be labelled need not be conveyed on a rotating feed table to the labelling place, as shown, but this can be effected by means of any suitable feeding or conveying device. Of Whatever kind the used feeding or conveying device may be, the driving devices for the said feeding device and those for the elastic member or members should, however, be mutually so adapted that the latter will be rotated about their axis of rotation in synchronism with the feed motion of the bottles or the like so that a bottle always at the rightv moment willarrive to the labelling place at the same time as an elastic member arrives there or respectively turns its side holding the label towards the labelling place and that the bottle and the elastic member also during the transmittance of the label to the bottle move synchronously to avoid a crinkling or folding of the label.

Instead of a pile of labels of the kind indicated on the drawing, a rotating label transmitter may be used which transmits labels to the required places on the elastic member or members synchronously with the motion of the latter.

Having now particularly described the nature of my invention and the manner of its operation what I claim is:

1. Device for labelling botles, cans and the like, comprising a conveyor for the bottles, a number of elastic labelling members, means for rotating said labelling members about an axis, mounting means for said labelling members so adapted in relation to said conveyor that the rotating labelling members are pressed against passing bottles on the conveyor being resiliently deformed thereby, a number of air conduits arranged inside of 7 member while a vacuum is maintained in said air conduits, and means for interrupting said connection to the source of vacuum and for connecting said air conduits to the outer air when the labelling member is resiliently pressed, against the bottle thus releasing the label from the labelling member. Q

2. Device for labelling bottles, cans and the like, comprising a conveyor for the bottles, a single elastic labelling member, means for rotating said labelling member about its ownlong'itudinal axis, mounting means for said 'labelling'member so adapted in relation to said conveyor that the rotating labelling member is pressed against passing bottles on the conveyor being resiliently desformed. thereby, a number of airwconduits arranged inside of said labelling member and opening on a part of the outer -.surface-.-of "the labelling member adapted tobe pressed-against the bottles, means for holding a;.pile ofilabelsi-close to the path of theouter surface: of, the. rotating labelling member, means for connectingasource of vacuum to said airpon'du'its ,when theopensource of vacuum and for connecting said air conduits to the outer air when the labelling member is resiliently pressed against the bottle thus releasing the label from the labelling member.

3. Labelling device according to claim 1, and wherein each labelling member consists of a hollow body of elastic material that is kept expanded by means of compressed air.

4. Labelling device according to claim 1, and wherein a plurality of elastic labelling members are grouped about a common axis of rotation, each labelling member being stationary in relation to its own longitudinal axis.

5. Labelling device according to claim 1, and wherein each labelling member consists of a hollow elastically expanded body, a number of flexible vacuum conduits arranged inside of said hollow body being attached with their openings, at one end in the surface of the hollow body and at the other end in ports arranged in a member attached to the driving shaft of the labelling member, which ports are adapted to be alternatively connected to the source of vacuum or the outer air during the rotation of the labelling member.

6. A labelling device according to claim 1, and

wherein each air conduit is branched ofl in a number of branch conduits opening at difierent points on the surface of the labelling member to form points of seizure for the labels.

7. Labelling device according to claim 1, and wherein each labelling member consists of a hollow elastically expanded body, a number of flexible vacuum conduits arranged inside of said hollow body being attached with their openings at one end in the surface of the hollow body and at the other-end in ports arranged in a plate attached to the driving shaft of the labelling member and abutting against a stationary plate provided with two openings, of which one is connected to the source of vacuum and the other to the outer air, said ports being adapted to alternatingly register With said openings during the rotation of the labelling member.

8. A labelling device according to claim 2, and wherein a longitudinal bore in the driving shaft of the labelling member is connected to a source of compressed air and opens into the interior of the labelling member by means of an automatic pressure valve.

GEORG VIKTOR WRANGE. 

